Intel's Banias due Q1 2003
C|Net | at | by Mike
Banias, Intel's energy-efficient processor designed primarily for notebooks, will debut at three speeds when it arrives next year. Banias, which is due in the first quarter of 2003, will come out at 1.4GHz, 1.5GHz and 1.6GHz, according to sources close to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company. The chip will initially be targeted at "thin and light" notebooks and eventually be incorporated into all types of notebooks, into blade servers and likely even into small desktops. A 1.3GHz version may also come out.
Like Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon and other competing chips, Banias' performance will actually be better than its numbers might indicate because it will complete more work per clock cycle than the Pentium 4, according to Intel and other sources.
"It will have higher performance and consume less power than today's Intel mobile processors," said an Intel spokeswoman who declined to comment on the chip speeds. Notebooks using the chip will consume roughly 25 percent less energy, company executives have said, thus increasing battery life. Whole subsections of the chip will shut down when not in use to conserve battery power. Banias notebooks will also come with integrated 802.11 wireless connectivity.